How much does a business video cost in Illinois?

It depends almost entirely on shoot time, number of locations, crew size, specialty capture like drone or live streaming, and how deep the edit goes. Brick Road Media packages start at $600, and a precise number comes from a short conversation about scope.

Why do video production quotes vary so much?

Because "a video" is not a fixed unit. A single-location social clip and a multi-location brand film with aerials are both videos, and the underlying inputs — time, crew, equipment, and edit depth — are completely different.

Is it cheaper to get several videos at once?

Yes. The expensive parts of production are planning and getting a crew on location. Once that is paid for, additional deliverables from the same shoot cost far less than booking a second shoot later.

What should be included in a video production quote?

Shoot hours, number of locations, the exact list of final files and aspect ratios, revision rounds, travel, and who owns the raw footage. Get all of it in writing.

What Video Production Costs in Illinois — And What Actually Drives the Price

Pricing · July 24, 2026 · 6 min read · Brick Road Media

Ask three videographers what a video costs and you will get three wildly different numbers. Here is what is actually behind them — so you can tell a fair quote from a guess.

The single most common question we get is also the hardest one to answer in a sentence: what does a video cost? The honest reply is that "a video" is not a unit of measurement. A thirty-second social clip shot in an afternoon and a multi-location brand film with drone work and a live-streamed launch are both "a video," and they should not cost the same.

So instead of a fake number, here is the actual anatomy of a video production quote — what moves it, what does not, and what to ask before you sign anything.

Start with the anchor: what an entry-level project looks like

At Brick Road Media, packages start at $600. That is a real starting point for a focused, single-purpose project — the kind of thing a local business needs when it wants one strong piece of video rather than an entire campaign.

What that number tells you is more useful than it looks. A studio quoting five figures for every inquiry is not built for small businesses. A shop quoting $150 is almost certainly not doing pre-production, real audio, or a proper edit. When you see a starting price published at all, you are at least dealing with someone who will talk plainly about money.

Rule of thumb: if a videographer will not give you a starting point before a discovery call, that is a sales tactic, not a pricing model.

The five things that actually move the price

Almost every legitimate quote is built from the same five inputs. If you understand them, you can read any bid.

Shoot time. Half a day versus two days is the biggest single lever. It is not just the hours on camera — it is setup, teardown, and travel on both ends.
Number of locations. One location is one lighting setup and one sound environment. Three locations is three of everything, plus the time between them.
Crew size. A solo operator, a two-person crew, and a full production with a dedicated audio tech and a second camera are three different budgets. Some projects genuinely need the bigger crew; many do not.
Specialty capture. Drone work, multi-camera live streaming, and event production each add real equipment and real planning. They are worth it when the story needs scale or the moment only happens once — and they are wasted money when it does not.
Edit depth. This is the input clients underestimate most. Story structure, color, sound design, motion graphics, captions, and platform-specific versions all live in post. A one-day shoot can carry a one-week edit, and that edit is usually where the video actually gets good.

Deliverables are where budgets quietly break

Two quotes can look identical until you read what you actually receive. One hero video is a very different project from one hero video plus six vertical cuts for social, a sixty-second version for paid ads, and stills pulled from the footage.

The good news is that additional deliverables from the same shoot are the cheapest content you will ever buy — the expensive parts, getting the crew on site and capturing the footage, are already paid for. If you know you want social cuts, say so before the shoot, not after. It changes how the day is filmed, and it is dramatically cheaper than going back.

One-off project or ongoing content?

These are different purchases and they price differently. A one-off makes sense when you have a specific thing to say once: a new location, a rebrand, a single event. Ongoing monthly content makes sense when your problem is not one message but constant feed pressure — see why monthly content usually beats the one-off shoot.

The reason ongoing work costs less per video is straightforward: planning is amortized, the crew already knows your brand, and a single shoot day can be batched into weeks of material.

What you are really paying for

Anyone can buy a camera. What separates a video that works from a video that sits unwatched is judgment — knowing what to point it at, what to cut, and what story the footage is actually telling.

Brick Road Media was founded by Cameron Jacobs, who holds a degree in Digital Cinematography from Full Sail University and spent nearly a decade in television news, producing on daily deadlines alongside the NFL, ESPN, and the PGA, followed by video production and public relations work for the Department of Energy. That background shows up in a quote as efficiency: fewer wasted setups, faster decisions on site, and a shoot day that produces usable material instead of hours of footage nobody can cut.

Questions to ask before you accept any quote

How many shoot hours and how many locations are included?
Exactly which files do I receive, and in which aspect ratios?
How many rounds of revisions are included, and what does an extra round cost?
Who owns the raw footage after delivery?
Is travel included for my location, or billed separately?
Will I get social-ready vertical cuts, or only the main video?

A production company that answers those six questions in writing without hesitating is one you can plan a budget around.

Getting a real number for your project

The fastest path to an accurate quote is a short conversation about what the video is for. Tell us the goal, roughly when you need it, and where you are — we serve Illinois, the Quad Cities, and southern Wisconsin — and you will get a straight answer and an honest number.

Common questions

How much does a business video cost in Illinois?
It depends almost entirely on shoot time, number of locations, crew size, specialty capture like drone or live streaming, and how deep the edit goes. Brick Road Media packages start at $600, and a precise number comes from a short conversation about scope.
Why do video production quotes vary so much?
Because "a video" is not a fixed unit. A single-location social clip and a multi-location brand film with aerials are both videos, and the underlying inputs — time, crew, equipment, and edit depth — are completely different.
Is it cheaper to get several videos at once?
Yes. The expensive parts of production are planning and getting a crew on location. Once that is paid for, additional deliverables from the same shoot cost far less than booking a second shoot later.
What should be included in a video production quote?
Shoot hours, number of locations, the exact list of final files and aspect ratios, revision rounds, travel, and who owns the raw footage. Get all of it in writing.